By DAVID GARDNER and JOHN FINERAN
Just when it looked like New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was going to get a belated wedding/get-well-quick gift of Florida wide receiver Percy Harvin, the Minnesota Vikings spoiled his and coach Bill Belichick’s Saturday by drafting the most exciting player on the Gators’ national championship team.
With the 22nd pick of the first round of Saturday’s National Football League Draft at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, just ahead of New England, the Vikings swooped in and drafted Harvin. Belichick, a good friend of Florida coach Urban Meyer, and the Patriots then traded out of the 23rd pick (sending it to Baltimore, which chose Mississippi offensive tackle Michael Oher) to secure more draft picks.
The 5-11, 190-pound Harvin was the only member of the 2008 national champions to be drafted on the first day of the draft. Only two rounds of the draft were conducted Saturday. Rounds 3-7 will take place Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. and wide receiver Louis Murphy, tight end Cornelius Ingram and offensive tackles Jason Watkins and Phil Trautwein are expected to join Harvin as draft picks.
Some may be surprised by Harvin’s first-round selection. Some mock drafts had Harvin falling into the second round after reports broke in the last weeks that Harvin tested positive for marijuana at the NFL Combine. There was also some concerns about behavioral issues from his high school days in Virginia Beach, Va., in addition to the series of ankle, foot and neck injuries Harvin suffered at Florida during three seasons.
“When we evaluated him on football between the lines, he was definitely a Top 10 pick,” Rick Spielman, the Vikings’ vice president of player personnel, told Minneapolis-area reporters. “We feel we have a very strong locker room, a very strong support staff here. We felt comfortable enough that he was just too explosive of a playmaker and too hard to pass up when we were picking.”
Spielmann and coach Brad Chldress, who flew Wednesday to Gainesville to meet with Harvin, Florida coach Urban Meyer and later Harvin’s mother, consulted with owner Zygi Wilf and team president Mark Wilf Friday about the possibility of adding Harvin to an explosive lineup that includes running back Adrian Peterson and wide receiver Bernard Berrian.
“This is a guy who can explode catching the football, running the football and returning the football,” Childress said. “He’s an exciting guy who plays football with great passion. Percy has that world-class speed … he’s a 10.3 100-meter guy … and has the ability to make you miss.”
The Vikings indicated they also planned to use Harvin on kick and punt returns, something he didn’t have to do at Florida because of the presence of Brandon James.
“We have no doubt we need to get the ball in his hands ‘x’ amount of times,” Spielman added.
Which should be good news for Harvin and his agent Joel Segal. “Percy is elite,” Segal said. “He’s one of the top players in the entire draft. Anywhere in the first round wouldn’t have surprised us. Minnesota needs a playmaker, so he will fit right in.”
Reached late Saturday night by Gator Country, Harvin said he would return a call after he finished dinner.
“I’m happy for Percy,” Meyer said in a release from the Florida Sports Information Department. “He had dreams of coming to Florida to win championships and then have an opportunity to play in the NFL. His dreams came true.”
Harvin became the 30th Florida player and the sixth wide receiver to be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft. Florida now has had a player drafted in the first round in 10 of the last 13 drafts, and a receiver has been drafted in 14 of the last 16 seasons, and 18 Gator wideouts have been drafted during the same time span. Harvin became the 32nd Florida wide receiver drafted. Since the arrival of Meyer, Florida has had 15 players drafted since the 2006 Draft.
In three seasons, Harvin had 1,929 receiving yards and 1,852 rushing yards in 36 games. He scored 32 touchdowns. Harvin’s per-rush average of 9.55 bettered the previous school record of 6.4 yards by Elijah Williams (1994-97).
NFL DRAFT
FIRST ROUND
1. Detroit Lions, Matthew Stafford (QB, Georgia)
2. St. Louis Rams, Jason Smith (OT, Baylor)
3. Kansas City Chiefs, Tyson Jackson (DE, Louisiana State)
4. Seattle Seahawks, Aaron Curry (OLB, Wake Forest)
5. New York Jets (from Cleveland Browns), Mark Sanchez (QB, Southern California)
6. Cincinnati Bengals, Andre Smith (OT, Alabama)
7. Oakland Raiders, Darrius Heyward-Bey (WR, Maryland)
8. Jacksonville Jaguars, Eugene Monroe (OT, Virginia)
9. Green Bay Packers, B.J. Raji (DT, Boston College)
10. San Francisco 49ers, Michael Crabtree (WR, Texas Tech)
11. Buffalo Bills, Aaron Maybin (DE, Penn State)
12. Denver Broncos, Knowshon Moreno (RB, Georgia)
13. Washington Redskins, Brian Orakpo (DE, Texas)
14. New Orleans Saints, Malcolm Jenkins (CB, Ohio State)
15. Houston Texans, Brian Cushing (OLB, Southern California)
16. San Diego Chargers, Larry English (DE, Northern Illinois)
17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (from Cleveland Browns), Josh Freeman (QB, Kansas State)
18. Denver Broncos, Robert Ayers (DE, Tennessee)
19. Philadelphia Eagles (from Tampa Bay Buccaneers through Cleveland Browns), Jeremy Maclin (WR, Missouri)
20. Detroit Lions, Brandon Pettigrew (TE, Oklahoma State)
21. Cleveland Browns (from Philadelphia Eagles), Alex Mack (OC, California)
22. Minnesota Vikings, Percy Harvin (WR, Florida)
23. Baltimore Ravens (from New England Patriots), Michael Oher (OT, Mississippi)
24. Atlanta Falcons, Peria Jerry (DT, Mississippi)
25. Miami Dolphins, Vontae Davis (CB, Illinois)
26. Green Bay Packers (from Baltimore Ravens through New England Patriots), Clay Matthews (OLB, Southern California)
27. Indianapolis Colts, Donald Brown (RB, Connecticut)
28. Buffalo Bills (from Philadelphia Eagles), Eric Wood (OC, Louisville)
29. New York Giants, Hakeem Nicks (WR, North Carolina)
30. Tennessee Titans, Kenny Britt (WR, Rutgers)
31. Arizona Cardinals, Chris Wells (WR, Ohio State)
32. Pittsburgh Steelers, Ziggy Hood (DT, Missouri)
SECOND ROUND
33. Detroit Lions, Louis Delmas (S, Western Michigan)
34. New England Patriots, Patrick Chung (S, Oregon)
35. St. Louis Rams, James Laurinaitis (LB, Ohio State)
36. Cleveland Browns, Brian Robiskie (WR, Ohio State)
37. Denver Broncos (from Seattle Seahawks), Alphonso Smith (CB, Wake Forest)
38. Cincinnati Bengals, Rey Maualuga (ILB, Southern California)
39. Jacksonville Jaguars, Eben Britton (OT, Arizona)
40. New England Patriots (from Oakland Raiders), Ron Brace (DT, Boston College)
41. New England Patriots (from Green Bay Packers), Darius Butler (CB, Connecticut)
42. Buffalo Bills, Jarius Byrd (CB, Oregon)
43. Carolina Panthers (from San Francisco 49ers), Everette Brown (DE, Florida State)
44. Miami Dolphins, Pat White (WR, West Virginia)
45. New York Giants, Clint Sintim (OLB, Virginia)
46. Houston Texans, Connor Barwin (DE, Cincinnati)
47. Oakland Raiders (from New England Patriots), Michael Mitchell (S, Ohio)
48. Denver Broncos, Darcel McBath (S, Texas Tech)
49. Seattle Seahawks (from Chicago Bears through Denver Broncos), Max Under (OC, Oregon)
50. Cleveland Browns, Mohamed Massaquoi (WR, Georgia)
51. Buffalo Bills (from Dallas Cowboys), Andrew Levitre (OG, Oregon State)
52. Cleveland Browns (from New York Jets), David Veikune (DE, Hawaii)
53. Philadelphia Eagles, LeSean McCoy (RB, Pittsburgh)
54. Minnesota Vikings, Phil Loadholt (OT, Oklahoma)
55. Atlanta Falcons, William Moore (S, Missouri)
56. Indianapolis Colts (from Miami Dolphins), Fili Moala (DT, Southern California)
57. Baltimore Ravens, Paul Kruger (OLB, Utah)
58. New England Patriots, Sebastian Vollmer (OT, Houston)
59. Carolina Panthers, Sherrod Martin (CB, Troy State)
60. New York Giants, William Beatty (OT, Connecticut)
61. Miami Dolphins (from Indianapolis Colts), Sean Smith (CB, Utah)
62. Tennessee Titans, Sen’Derrick Marks (DT, Auburn)
63. Arizona Cardinals, Cody Brown (OLB, Connecticut)
64. Denver Broncos (from Pittsburgh Steelers), Richard Quinn (TE, North Carolina)